ARTICLES ABOUT FEDERAL PROSECUTOR BY DATE - PAGE 5

The No. 2 man in the U.S. attorney's office in Chicago will take over as acting chief prosecutor after Patrick Fitzgerald steps down, and U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin pledged Monday that the process of picking a permanent successor will be a bipartisan one. The Justice Department announced that Gary S. Shapiro, 65, of Evanston, first assistant U.S. attorney for 14 years, would fill in as acting U.S. attorney when Fitzgerald leaves at the end of the month....

By Mary Wisniewski CHICAGO, June 25 (Reuters) - Long-time Chicago prosecutor Gary S. Shapiro will become acting U.S. attorney on July 1 after Patrick J. Fitzgerald, known for his hard line on political corruption, steps down from the post, the U.S. Attorney's office said Monday. Also Monday, the state's two senators have agreed to appoint a six-member bipartisan committee to screen applicants for Fitzgerald's permanent replacement. Shapiro, 65, who is Fitzgerald's second in command as first assistant U.S. attorney, has a total of four decades of experience as a federal prosecutor in Chicago.

WASHINGTON -- Roger Clemens, known as "The Rocket" for the fastball that dominated major league batters, won his most critical decision yet Monday when jurors found him innocent of lying to Congress about steroid use. For nearly five years, Clemens had steadfastly denied using steroids or human growth hormone, and this time a jury believed him -- or at least was unconvinced by the testimony of his former trainer, Brian McNamee, that he had regularly...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has hired a former federal prosecutor to help bring lawsuits over misconduct in the mortgage-backed securities market during the financial crisis. Virginia Chavez Romano, a former assistant U.S. attorney in New York, will help Schneiderman as he coordinates with a federal task force on the mortgage meltdown, Schneiderman spokesman James Freedland said on Monday. The Obama administration formed the task force in January to probe fraud and abuse in the mortgage-backed securities market.

Crain's Chicago Business reports: Reid J. Schar, the federal prosecutor who led the case against Gov. Rod Blagojevich, is joining the white collar practice group at Jenner & Block. Schar announced his plans to leave the U.S. district attorney's office in January. Get the full story: chicagobusiness.com

* Investigation looks at land use, forest allegations * Salobo, Sossego copper mines among Vale's largest * Probe is prosecutor's 2nd Vale-related move this week By Sabrina Lorenzi RIO DE JANEIRO, May 30 (Reuters) - Brazil's Vale SA , the world's second-largest mining company, faces an investigation of two Amazon copper mines after allegations that it improperly used Indian lands and failed to replace forest cut to build a power line, a Brazilian prosecutor told Reuters on Wednesday.

As U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald retires to accolades, Robert Blagojevich said he's still fighting to restore his reputation since federal prosecutors dropped charges against him in a sweeping corruption case involving his brother's administration. "I am never going to say publicly that I am bitter," Blagojevich said Thursday after giving a speech to the Chicago Bar Association. "I am a citizen who has learned a heck of a civics lesson. It's a very different lesson from the one I learned in school, where I thought the scales of justice were blind, when in reality, it's a David-versus-Goliath battle.

Politicians were dancing and singing all along the Chicago Way on Wednesday, after U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald announced he would step down. "I can hear the champagne corks popping all the way over here, and I'm in Virginia," said banker and Illinois' former U.S. Sen. Peter Fitzgerald (no relation), the Republican who sacrificed his political career by recommending Pat Fitzgerald. "Would I do it again? I'd do it in a second," he told me in a phone interview just after the news broke.